Bridge House is named for the ornamental Bridge in Cosgrove, but is estimated to be of much older construction. It is made of local rubble stone similar to the Barley Mow, and the original line of the thatched roof visible at the gable end would agree with local surveyors who believe it must date back to the mid 17^th century. It is likely that the Rigby family at the Priory caused the cottages that make up this house to be built.

The canal did not exist, and Bridge Road was just an unnamed cart track leading to the Priory. Eyres’ map of 1779 is the nearest impression we have of Cosgrove at this time.

At this time in Cosgrove there was an increase in building and rebuilding. This fits with the general pattern of construction in the country at the time. “The Great Rebuilding” was a period of construction triggered by the Restoration of Charles II. Most of the listed buildings of Cosgrove were erected or altered at this time, although the two workers’ cottages here were not among them, being of more lowly construction.

The gable end has been raised at some time in the past. There is adate stone which is very worn, but has an initial M and a date of 1804, so we assume that this improvement was made in that year as the Mansels inherited the Cosgrove estate from George Biggin through his sister Mary Anne’s marriage to Major General John Mansel – their son Major John Christopher was lord of the manor of Cosgrove when these cottages were remodelled in 1804, just after Cosgrove Hall itself was rebuilt.

Census 1841

At the time of the1841 census we know that the Bransons and Clarkes were living side by side, in two dwellings on the Bridge House site, although the enumeration system is not easy to interpret, the numbering being erratic.

Mary and Thomas were married at Cosgrove Church on 12^th September 1830. Thomas Clarke, Mary’s husband, was buried on 10^th January 1842. Mary’s baptism is recorded at Cosgrove on 8^th April 1832. She evidently left Cosgrove and went into service – recorded at Northampton at the age of 28. She appears to have married a John Fountaine at Northampton when she was 43.

Elizabeth was baptised on 27^th November 1836 and was married at the age of 19, in Cosgrove, to William Burnell on 6^th November 1855. Her mother had probably died by then as the marriage was witnessed by Maria. She signed with her mark, indicating that this family were in all likelihood illiterate.

Frances’ baptism is recorded at Cosgrove Church on Christmas Day 1840. Sadly, a child called Frances Clark[e] was buried on 5^th January 1845 at Cosgrove. At this time there were several Clark[e] families in the village so that records and dates for this little group can only be assumed.

At the survey of 1843 Mary Clarke was living at Bridge House cottages, presumably with her three girls. William Branson, the cooper, was in the adjoining cottage and yard and had tenancy of the “garden”, probably the whole plot between the cottages and the canal.

By November of that year Mary Clarke and her girls had disappeared from the Mansels’ list. They do not appear in the next Census in 1851.

By then a butler’s family were next door to the Bransons at the smaller cottage at the Bridge House. Only certain families would have had a butler, and as these cottages belonged to the Mansel family we assume that Henry Clamp was a butler at Cosgrove Hall.

Census 1851

Henry and Sarah were appointed from outside the village, but their son Henry was baptised at Cosgrove, followed by his brother George in March 1852. The Bransons were still producing daughter after daughter! William Branson was prosperous, though, and was producing barrels, buckets and tubs for the village, notably for Mr Mansel himself at the Hall.

In 2020, Gayle Scott discovered a button along with sewing items, at Bridge House:

This was manufactured by Firmin and Sons, of Birmingham, and one of their managers, Tony Kelly, wrote “This appears to be a livery style button of the type worn by liveried estate staff like footmen and coachmen. The back mark tells me the button was manufactured before 1895. It does not resemble any military regimental buttons.” Is it possible that this button came from the livery of a butler like Henry Clamp?

A second button was found later the same year in the garden, It was manufactured in London by R Bushby, working from1800 to 1824. His company produced fine buttons, which may have appeared on Mr Mansel’s coat.

The motto “Tria Juncta in Uno” relates to the order of the Bath, and because of his elevated military career we know that Mr Mansel would have been entitled to use it. We cannot be sure at what date this button was used, but it seems likely that despite its early date it would have been used for many years on different uniforms, because of the cost of buying new buttons.

We have this record of alterations made in 1852, possibly at the cooperage. Yet another John Christopher Mansel, a nephew, was the holder of the manor title at this time.

1852 April 29 D. Holman
at William Branson & Packers

1852 - William Branson account for Cooper work for J. C. Mansel

This shows us barrels, casks, pails and other household containers being made at the Bridge House cooperage for use on the Mansel estate.

By 1861 the Hillyer family were in the cottage next to the cooperage. Jane Hillyer was one of the several lacemakers who carried on the tradition of outworkers in pillow lace in the village, selling their work by the yard to merchants for sale in London.

Census 1861

Ten years later, in 1871, we find the Buckingham family living in the smaller cottage of the two. It seems that the families here were often from outside Cosgrove and we wonder if the Mansels offered work with tied accommodation to attract people to the village.

This Census is the only early reference to George Frederick Branson, William’s nephew from Southampton. He evidently stayed at the cooperage on Census night, and later became the infamous character who built Branson’s Folly, now the Cosgrove Lodge Hotel. [http://www.cosgrovehistory.co.uk/doc/people/gfb.html]

Census 1871

The Branson daughters continued to leave home for service work in and around the village. Mary Ann Branson died aged 59 and was buried at Cosgrove Church on 16 July 1880, leaving William a widower with his remaining spinster daughters Kate and Sarah in the cottage. Next door the Hillyer family was growing and the children were set to work one by one.

Census 1881

We know from the 1881 plan that a family called Clifton moved into the smaller cottage the year after the Census.

The Census in 1891 brings a new perspective – houses began to be numbered, although not in the numbering they now carry, and road names became fixed.

The pair of cottages at Bridge House, charmingly, was named Honeysuckle Cottages at this time. William, aged 80, was apparently still doing some cooperage work, looked after by his unmarried daughter Kate, who by this time had a son, Claude Rowe. The Williams family had replaced the Hillyers, who had moved over the Bridge to one of the old cottages now called Bridge Row.

William Branson lived a further 8 years and was buried on 11 September 1899 at Cosgrove Church.

Census 1901

At the 1901 Census the Hillyer family were alone in the two cottages. William Hillyer was one of the Cosgrove men now employed at the Wolverton Carriage Works along with dozens of others. He would have walked along the towpath with his friends, morning and evening.

The smaller cottage was unoccupied at this point.

 Census 1911

In the 1911 Census Kate Branson, the unmarried daughter of William, the old cooper, reappears in her family home, living alongside her brother in law, William Jelley, who worked at Wolverton Works. They are registered as one household but we don’t know whether the premises were yet combined into one building.

In the 1920 Electoral Rolls Sarah and William Jelley were living together at the Bridge House cottages. In 1919, the first year that Sarah would have been able to register, they are both described as living “in village”, as was Mary Ann Knowles Rowe, the other tenant at Bridge cottages.

Interestingly Mrs Rowe bears the same surname as Claude, the illegitimate son of Kate Branson, who was living in one of the cottages until at least 1911.

In the years before World War 1 the Electoral Rolls do not give addresses, so it is harder to tell who was occupying the Bridge House site.

Cosgrove Hall Estate Sale 1919

A   Valuable   Small Property

situate adjoining the Canal in Cosgrove Village, and comprising TWO STONE BUILT AND
THATCHED COTTAGES, each with Four Rooms and Outoffices, together with large Gardens, being
No. 202 on Plan, and having an area of about

3r. 7p.

and let as follows—Cottage and Garden to Mr. W. Jelly, £6 4s., ditto Mrs. Rowe £4 3s.  Garden to
Mr. Wise 6s., making a total Rental of £10 13s. per annum.

All the Tenancies are Yearly Michaelmas, except Mrs. Rowe's Cottage, which is held on a Weekly
Tenancy at 1s. 6d. per week.

Tithe Free.
Landlord pays Rates.

Lot 14, a small property containing two stone-built cottages, 3r. 7p., sold to Mr. Gosling for £195.

Although the 1919 Sale Plan appears to show the premises divided into three, only “two stone built and thatched cottages” are described. It is possible that third division, nearest to the road, was the cooper’s workshop or store room.

Mr Gosling, who bought the cottages, had arrived from London and married Catherine Holdom, who lived just down the canal from Bridge Cottages, on 22 January 1902. They seem not to have settled in Cosgrove at that point, but in 1947 Frederick H Gosling appears on the Electoral Roll living at Cosgrove Locks. His wife Catherine was not registered.

Frederick Joseph Clarke, Frederick Gosling’s nephew, was born in 1886 and baptised in Cosgrove Church 3^rd July 1892. By 1901 the Clarkes were living at Cosgrove Locks and remained there for many years, working in the Sand and Gravel Pits nearby.

Frederick Joseph was a pacifist, and at the age of 24 the following article tells us that he obtained Exemption from active service under the auspices of the Quaker movement. This was quite unusual in Cosgrove, where every other eligible man had joined the fighting forces.

Wolverton Express 18^th August 1916

At the Northampton Appeal Tribunal on Friday, held at Northampton, Frederick Joseph Clarke, a dairy farmer, of Cosgrove, whose case had been adjourned to enable him to find work of national importance under the Friends’ Ambulance Unit, reported that he had met the Committee of the Unit, and was prepared to undertake service on a farm under the rules and regulations of the Unit – Conditional Exemption was granted by the Tribunal.

We know that by the 1939 Census Frederick had married Winifred Daisy, born on 23^rd July 1894. Frederick was a member of the Police Reserve and Winifred was an ARP First Aider. As yet we have no records of their marriage, but Frederick’s pacifism and Winifred’s stalwart support of Cosgrove Baptist Church at the Mission Hall points to their possible non-conformist faith. It is likely that this is why they do not appear in the records of Cosgrove Church.

Frederick Joseph was buried at Cosgrove Church on 27 March 1945 aged 59.

Wolverton Express 6th April 1945

The late Mr J. Clarke of Cosgrove

The death of Mr. Frederick Joseph Clarke at the Lock, Cosgrove, on 23 March occasioned the deepest regret amongst his many friends.  He was of a genial disposition and held the esteem of the village community and friends of a wider area.  He is passing followed a lengthy periods of ill health, and occurred only a few days after his return home from the Northampton General Hospital, where he had been a patient.  A member of a well-known Cosgrove family, he was a native of the village and had lived there all his life.  Naturally he was deeply interested in the village affairs and the welfare of its inhabitants.  He was a parish councillor, a school manager, and was at one time parish constable before such offices were discontinued.  He was 59 years of age.  A keen sportsman, he was never happier than when he was angling or out with his gun.

The funeral took place on Tuesday, 27 March, when the deceased gentleman was laid to rest in the Cemetery extension of the Parish Churchyard.  The service in the Parish Church and at the graveside was impressively conducted by the Rev. A Woodhouse, Rector of Passenham.

Mourners present were: Mrs. Clarke (widow), Mrs. Tompkins, Weston Turville (sister), Mrs. J Dallimore, Trowbridge (sister-in-law), Mrs. Holden, Cosgrove (cousin), and Mr. Gosling, Cosgrove (uncle).  Friends present included Mr. and Mrs. C R Whiting, Mrs. Feil, Mr. and Mrs. Valentine, Mr. Crowder, and Miss Barby.  Mr. C R Whiting represented the Parish Council.

Floral tributes bore the inscriptions: In loving memory of my beloved husband, from his devoted wife, “at rest”; In ever loving memory of my Brother Joe, from Pollie, Western Turville; with deepest sympathy, from Bill and Dollie, Torquay; With all our sympathy from John and Kate, Chester; With sincere sympathy, from Father, Ted, May, Jack, Iris and Wilson, Trowbridge; Hilda, Charlie, Linda, Bernard, Phyllis and Bernard, Trowbridge; Rose, Hedley, and family, Bristol; Auntie Kitty and Uncle Fred; Bella and Jack (cousins); Mr. and Mrs. C R Whiting and family; Mr. and Mrs. Flindall; Mr. and Mrs. G H Winterbottom; Mr. and Mrs. Valentine and Mrs. Feil; all at the Lodge, gravel and sand pits; Teachers and Scholars of Cosgrove School; Mr. and Mrs. Ashby, Margaret and Fred.

Catherine Gosling, still living at the Locks in Cosgrove, was buried at Cosgrove Church on 23^rd November 1945, aged 88.

Winifred Daisy Clarke was still living at the Locks in Cosgrove until 1952. There is no record in Cosgrove of her death. Possibly via the Gosling connection Winifred Daisy Clarke still owned the Bridge House cottages.

In 1927 Frederick John Holman came to live in Bridge Road from Old Stratford. John’s wife Lily is not registered on the Electoral roll for this year, possibly because she was nursing their son Jim, who was in and out of hospital with polio during this period.

As the Bridge House site appears in the Sale of 1919 as two separate cottages, we can pin down the date of the amalgamation of the two cottages into one house as somewhere between 1919 and 1927. From 1920 to 1922 the Electoral Roll shows Sarah Gutridge Jelley, a daughter of the cooper, William Branson, living “Near the Bridge” with her husband William John Jelley. No other family is recorded with this description of the cottages at this time, so they could already have been knocked into one dwelling.

In the Electoral Rolls for 1926 a George Appleton is recorded as living at Canal Bridge, but we have no way of knowing as yet whether this was in one or both of these cottages.

Frederick Holman’s story appears at http://www.cosgrovehistory.co.uk/doc/war/holman.html

Years later, in 2021, Gayle Scott discovered a clay pipe bowl in the garden of Bridge House:

This piece is marked Ypres, City of Spires, and is thought to have been made as a souvenir at the time of the rebuilding of Ypres, renamed Ieper, in around 1920, shortly after WW1. Fred served in Salonika, where he was dreadfully affected by gas, and spent some years at this period in France in recuperation. He may have brought this pipe home with him on his repatriation.

On March 19^th the Holmans paid their first rent of 10 shillings on Bridge House to Mrs Gosling.

At this time double barn doors were still present at the gable end of the house next to the road.

Electoral Rolls 1927

Fred and Lily Holman had a son, Jim, who had been disabled by polio. http://www.cosgrovehistory.co.uk/doc/people/jh.html

For this reason Bridge House itself was modified – the barn doors were removed and a sitting room made for Jim with a window near the road. This work was done by his father, family and friends. Late in the 1930’s they bought a little wooden shop for the garden, letting onto Bridge Road, and Jim became the proprietor of a General Store, where you could buy anything from a hairpin to a bag of sugar.

When John Holman was born in 1933, Bridge House, at 40 Bridge Road, where his family lived, was already a very old cottage.

This was a period of transition, modernisation and change in Cosgrove. Across the road in the new council houses, electric light and power, gas and mains sewage were already being used.

But in Bridge House there was still what was known, locally, as a “Bucket and Chuck it” system. You went to the toilet in an outhouse and you sat on a wooden seat over a bucket. A night cart from the Council came round the village collecting the contents and taking it away. It came to Cosgrove in the early mornings. Water closets could not be used without mains water, of course.

All the Holman’s water had to be fetched from a standpipe in the garden at the back of the cottage. This was a modern improvement that replaced a hand pump previously there. There were some 16 wells around the village at this time, but Bridge House didn’t have one. The house was put on mains water which fed the standpipe in 1936.

Electricity didn’t arrive until 1936 either. Many of the houses in Cosgrove, like Bridge House, used oil lamps for lighting. Cooking was done on a paraffin stove. There was a range, with a boiler at the side, which had a brass tap that fascinated John as a little boy. Bridge House did not have gas laid on while John’s family lived there.

Washing clothes involved fetching water from the standpipe, heating it in the copper and scrubbing it by hand in a tub. Then it had to be dried on a line when the weather allowed and ironed using a flat iron heated on the stove. Getting water for people to wash was a similar task.

There were no fridges in ordinary houses until after the Second World War. Food was eaten fresh, the same day that it was picked or bought or preserved by bottling, salting or drying. Meat and dairy food was kept in a larder with a window open to the air covered by a metal fly screen. Some houses had a stone “step”, or counter, which kept cool enough to allow food sitting on it to be kept a day or two longer.

Electoral Rolls 1953

By 1953 there was still only one house in Bridge Road which had a phone – number 17. In that year John, working in the allotments at the back of Bridge Road, had put the tine of a cultivator, about 1¼ inches by 9 inches, through his foot. He yelled for his mate and asked for a hacksaw and an adjustable spanner. By the time Phyllis, who was staying for the weekend, had gone to the Goodridge’s at number 17 to use the phone to get an ambulance, John had dismantled the machine enough to get his foot, with the tine still in it, free. He was quite a celebrity both in the ambulance and with the nurses at the hospital, who kept him there for about two weeks. But when John needed an operation, the hospital had to phone number 17 and the Goodridges had to fetch Mrs Holman from over the road to speak to the doctors to give permission for the operation to go ahead.

Bridge House in the 1960s

During these years Fred and John Holman built no 42 Bridge Road, named Bridge View, in the grounds of Bridge House, so that Jim could manage entirely on the ground floor. This house remained the Holman family home until Phyllis and John died. It was later demolished to build the development next to the canal bridge.